We’re all going to learn some interesting stuff, beyond the usual government-versus-opposition popularity contest that has typified Alberta politics for the past decade, from the Sept. 14 by-election in Calgary-Shaw called yesterday to replace former United Conservative Party leadership candidate and cabinet minister Rebecca Schulz. Will the fact that the UCP standard bearer in the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Count on it, UCP red tape will make it easier to lose your health care
Where the hell is Dale Nally now that we actually need him? For those of you who missed the memo, Mr. Nally is the “minister of red tape reduction” in Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party Government. Unfortunately, as anyone living through this government’s existence should by now understand, no one loves red tape more than […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Preston Manning, 84, turns up with yet another ‘assembly’ to polish Alberta’s tarnished separation referendum
Oh for crying out loud! Preston Manning, 84, the superannuated Godfather of the Canadian right, has teamed up with another tiresome has-been from conservative Western Canadian politics to try to polish up Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s tarnished October separation referendum with a two-day “virtual assembly” in late September. Mr. Manning’s sidekick in this elaborate constitutional […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Newspaper uncovers strange surge in fund-raising for separatist party in 2025
What are we to make of that “mysterious cash surge” in donations to the Republican Party of Alberta just before the June 2025 by-election in the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills riding? At the time, RPA Leader Cameron Davies was running in the by-election to replace former United Conservative Party MLA Nathan Cooper, the Speaker of the Legislative […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Getting lawyers to wear cowboy hats for 10 days every July is the closest Alberta’s going to get to a ‘distinct legal tradition’
Sorry folks, but encouraging Calgary lawyers to dress up in cowboy hats and Cuban heels like extras on the set of Yellowstone for 10 days every July does not a distinct society make. What’s more, it’s about as close as Alberta’s going to get to a “distinct legal tradition,” too. Yeah, Alberta’s United Conservative Party […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
St. Albert Public Library Board has estimated cost of UCP book ban at $100,000 in 2027
ST. ALBERT, Alberta – The St. Albert Public Library Board has estimated it will cost about $100,000 next year to comply with the United Conservative Party Government’s unprecedented library censorship scheme, which is now the law of the land. Bearing in mind that the UCP book ban is a policy intended to solve a […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Guest post by Lorne Fitch: 20 reasons Albertans should be concerned about conservation
Professional Biologist, author and educator Lorne Fitch, a frequent contributor to this blog on environmental and conservation topics, returns with a disturbing list of reasons Albertans should be concerned about the state of conservation in Alberta. The current troubling state of affairs is the result of the policies and attitudes of both the United Conservative […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
‘In Alberta we believe in free speech, full stop,’ Danielle Smith says – at least when it comes to hate speech
“In Alberta we believe in free speech. Full stop.” So says Alberta’s premier, Danielle Smith. And it’s true … sort of. We absolutely believe in free speech here in Wild Rose Country … except when we don’t. And there are no exceptions, ever … except when there are. Well, you’ve got to hand it […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Having made Alberta’s blue flag a symbol of separatism, separatists are furious some folks see it as a symbol of separatism!
Alberta separatists, having run our uninspiring Tory Blue provincial flag up the metaphorical flagpole and declared it to be a symbol of independence and “absolutely gorgeous” to boot, have their knickers in a twist because the display of the flag in some businesses has become a topic of a teapot tempest. Being a movement steeped […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta propaganda push suggests UCP is encountering stiffer opposition to AI data centres than it expected
The United Conservative Party Government must be encountering stiffer opposition than it expected to its plan to make Alberta North America’s dumping ground for the Artificial Intelligence data centres that citizens most everywhere else are organizing to fight. Consider the slick propaganda section that’s appeared on the Government of Alberta’s official website, which bizarrely tries […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta Day is coming on Sept. 1! It won’t be replacing Labour Day any time soon
Owing to the vagaries of the Gregorian calendar, Labour Day won’t happen this year until Sept. 7. This may or may not be a disappointment to the Big Brains of Alberta’s United Conservative Party. On the one hand, they’re stuck with Sept. 1 for former premier Jason Kenney’s lame celebration of Alberta’s achievement of official […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Let’s go back to the future Danielle Smith promised us: ‘No one should ever have to pay out of pocket to see a family doctor’
“Hi, I’m Danielle Smith, and I believe no one should ever have to pay out of pocket to see a family doctor.” So said Alberta’s premier in a 30-second pre-election video posted to the Internet on April 12, 2023. The video continued, with Ms. Smith explaining in her chirpy, personable, reassuring public voice: “That’s why […]